230. MARTIN LUTHER AND THE BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY, 1517- 1522 A.D.
MARTIN LUTHER, 1483-1546 A.D.
Though there were many reformers before the Reformation, the beginning of that movement is rightly associated with the name of Martin Luther. He was the son of a German peasant, who, by industry and frugality, had won a small competence. Thanks to his father's self-sacrifice, Luther enjoyed a good education in scholastic philosophy at the university of Erfurt. Having taken the degrees of bachelor and master of arts, Luther began to study law, but an acute sense of his sinfulness and a desire to save his soul soon drove him into a monastery. There he read the Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers and found at last the peace of mind he sought. A few years later Luther paid a visit to Rome, which opened his eyes to the worldliness and general laxity of life in the capital of the Papacy. He returned to Germany and became a professor of theology in the university of Wittenberg, newly founded by Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony. Luther's sermons and lectures attracted large audiences, students began to flock to Wittenberg; and the elector grew proud of the rising young teacher who was making his university famous.
[Illustration: MARTIN LUTHER
After a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger.]
TETZEL AND INDULGENCES
But Luther was soon to emerge from his academic retirement and to become, quite unintentionally, a reformer. In 1517 A.D. there came into the neighborhood of Wittenberg a Dominican friar named Tetzel, granting indulgences for the erection of the new St. Peter's at Rome. [12] An indulgence, according to the teaching of the Church, formed a remission of the temporal punishment, or penance [13] due to sin, if the sinner had expressed his repentance and had promised to atone for his misdeeds. It was also supposed to free the person who received it from some or all of his punishment after death in Purgatory. [14] Indulgences were granted for participation in crusades, pilgrimages, and other good works. Later on they were granted for money, which was expected to be applied to some pious purpose. Many of the German princes opposed this method of raising funds for the Church, because it took so much money out of their dominions. Their sale had also been condemned on religious grounds by Huss and Erasmus.
POSTING OF THE NINETY-FIVE THESES, 1517 A.D.
Luther began his reforming career by an attack upon indulgences. He did not deny their usefulness altogether, but pointed out that they lent themselves to grave abuses. Common people, who could not understand the Latin in which they were written, often thought that they wiped away the penalties of sin, even without true repentance. These criticisms Luther set forth in ninety-five theses or propositions, which he offered to defend against all opponents. In accordance with the custom of medieval scholars, Luther posted his theses on the door of the church at Wittenberg, where all might see them. They were composed in Latin, but were at once translated into German, printed, and spread broadcast over Germany. Their effect was so great that before long the sale of indulgences in that country almost ceased.
BURNING OF THE PAPAL BULL, 1520 A.D.
The scholarly critic of indulgences soon passed into an open foe of the Papacy. Luther found that his theological views bore a close resemblance to those of Wycliffe and John Huss, yet he refused to give them up as heretical. Instead, he wrote three bold pamphlets, in one of which he appealed to the "Christian nobility of the German nation" to rally together against Rome. The pope, at first, had paid little attention to the controversy about indulgences, declaring it "a mere squabble of monks," but he now issued a bull against Luther, ordering him to recant within sixty days or be excommunicated. The papal bull did not frighten Luther or withdraw from him popular support. He burnt it in the market square of Wittenberg, in the presence of a concourse of students and townsfolk. This dramatic answer to the pope deeply stirred all Germany.